Jueves, 13 Enero 2022

Notary acts by videoconference in Portugal

VolverOn December 30, 2021, the Decree-Law No. 126/2021 was approved, establishing the temporary legal regime applicable to the performance of authentic acts, terms of authentication and recognitions, by videoconference. This new law will enter into force on April 4, 2022.

This Law is a response to the public health emergency resulting from COVID-19, and will be in place for two years, after which the sustainability of the model will be assessed.

This regime will affect the acts of the following professionals:

• Public registry officials

• Notaries

• Portuguese consular agents

• Lawyers

• Solicitors

For acts to be carried out by notaries, Portuguese consular agents, lawyers or solicitors, all acts within their jurisdiction are covered by this regime. However, for acts related to facts subject to land registration, only:

• Legal facts determining the constitution, recognition, acquisition, modification or extinction of property rights, usufruct, use and housing, area or servitude;

• Legal facts determining the constitution or modification of horizontal property;

• the promise of purchasing and selling real estate, if it has been given real registry effects or the assignment of the contractual position arising from that fact;

• Mortgage, its assignment, modification or extinction, the assignment of the priority degree of the respective registration and the consignment of income.

Also, wills and acts related to them are also excluded from the new law.

For acts to be carried out in the public registry, only those related to:

• the special procedure of transmission and immediate registration of real estate

• the separation or divorce proceedings by mutual consent

• the procedure for enabling heirs with or without registrations

Thus, the above-mentioned acts may be carried out by videoconference, using a computer platform provided by the Portuguese Ministry of Justice and managed by the Institute of Registers and Notary, I. P. (IRN, I. P.), through which access to videoconferencing sessions will be provided.

It should also be noted that the performance of any acts mentioned above depends on prior scheduling, and it is up to the responsible professional to schedule the act on the computer platform mentioned above, choosing the day, time and duration foresaw for their performance and identifying the people who intervene in them. The participants will then receive an email, containing the confirmation of the schedule of the act and the link that will allow access on the scheduled day to the videoconference session.

It will also be the responsibility of the professional to conduct the video conference sessions, ensuring compliance with the formalities legally imposed for the act, such as, for example, confronting the elements of identification of the parties collected by the computer platform with the facial image of the person and with the answers given by the individual. Each professional is responsible for the processing of personal data that he/she performs in the context of performing acts through videoconferencing.

Without prejudice of any other measures which are deemed appropriate by the professional to ensure that the every intervenient acts on their own free will, the professional should always ask for the participants to show the space around them, having the duty to proceed in case he has any doubts about (i) the identity of the parties, (ii) the free will of the interveners, (iii) the capacity of the parties, (iv) the integrity of the documents submitted or (v) if he considers that the necessary technical conditions are not met. It should be noted that the parties cannot disable, under any circumstances, the capture of image or sound during the videoconference session, under the penalty that the procedure is interrupted by the trader and there is no place for the conclusion of the act.

As for the course of the work, this will be quite similar to how it would take place if the parties were brought together in person: the professional shares the documents on the screen as he reads, explaining aloud and in the presence, simultaneously or not, of each party, with the particularity that the reading, explanation, and signature of the documents must be carried out on the same day.

Finally, the recordings of the videoconference sessions are archived and kept by the computer platform for 20 years, and the acts performed under this regime have the same value as the acts performed in person, provided that the requirements laid down therein are met.

The Commercial and Corporate Law department of Belzuz Abogados will monitor the implementation of this innovative mechanism, being entirely available for any clarifications on this topic.

Departamento Derecho Mercantil y Societario | (Portugal)

 

Belzuz Abogados SLP

La presente publicación contiene información de carácter general sin que constituya opinión profesional ni asesoría jurídica. © Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P., quedan reservados todos los derechos. Se prohíbe la explotación, reproducción, distribución, comunicación pública y transformación total o parcial, de esta obra, sin autorización escrita de Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P.

Madrid

Belzuz Abogados - Despacho de Madrid

Nuñez de Balboa 115 bis 1

  28006 Madrid

+34 91 562 50 76

+34 91 562 45 40

Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo.

Lisboa

Belzuz Abogados - Despacho de Lisboa

Av. Duque d´Ávila, 141 – 1º Dtº

  1050-081 Lisboa

+351 21 324 05 30

+351 21 347 84 52

Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo.

Oporto

Belzuz Abogados - Despacho de Oporto

Rua Julio Dinis 204, Off 314

  4050-318 Oporto

+351 22 938 94 52

+351 22 938 94 54

Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo.

Asociaciones

  • 1_insuralex
  • 3_chambers_global_2022
  • 4_cle
  • 5_chp
  • 6_aeafa